In another first, NBA D-League Prospect Amjyot Singh to headline India heavy squad at 3x3 FIBA World Tour Finals
· India international basketball player Amjyot Singh Gill, who has also entered his name in this year’s NBA D League draft, is competing at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Finals in Abu Dhabi, UAE on 27-28 October.
· The FIBA 3x3 World Tour Finals is a hugely prestigious event and is the equivalent of a World Cup for 3x3 basketball for professional players.
· The team comprises 2 other Indian-origin players: Inderbir Singh Gill (USA) and Bikramjit Gill (Canada) apart from a fourth from Japan.
· The three Indian players (aka ‘Team Gill’) have just completed training at the world-class Jaypee Greens facility in Greater Noida and flew out to Abu Dhabi earlier this morning (Wednesday, 26th October).
Delhi, 26th October, 2016: With the NBA D-League draft around the corner, Indian basketball phenom Amjyot Singh Gill is all set to compete at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Finals to be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE on 27-28 October. This will be the first time an Indian player will be competing at the 3x3 World Final stage, and is yet another historic milestone in India Basketball and for Amjyot’s skyrocketing career.
Amjyot is part of an international city based side from Japan (Team Hamamatsu), comprising two other Indian origin players and one from Japan. The FIBA 3x3 World Tour Finals is a very prestigious event that is the equivalent of a World Cup for 3x3 basketball for professional players.
The full squad is as follows: Amjyot Singh Gill (India), Bikramjit Gill (Canada), Inderbir Singh Gill (United States), Chihiro Ikeda (Japan). Delhi based basketball loving entrepreneur Rohit Bakshi was instrumental in putting the team together, building on Amjyot’s participation in Japan’s National Basketball Development league in the 2015-16 season.
Amjyot will be competing in this event before flying to the US for the D-League draft. It is to be recalled that only last week it was announced that the 6ft 9 inch 24 year old Amjyot had signed the standard NBA Developmental League player contract making him eligible for the D-League draft. The draft will be held on 30th October via teleconference. If Amjyot gets drafted he stands to be the first Indian national to get directly drafted into the D League, the official nursery for aspiring players wishing to get elevated into the NBA, the world’s most prestigious basketball league.
The three Gills- Amjyot, Bikramjit and Inderbir have just completed training at the world-class Jaypee Greens facility in Greater Noida and flew out to Abu Dhabi earlier this morning (Wednesday, 26th October).
“Playing 5 on 5 (in Japan) was a very good experience as it was my first professional league. Playing in 3 on 3 was a whole new game for me but because of Inderbir and Bikram bhai they modified my game and helped me a lot to do what I’m doing now. We are prepared for the World Tour and we think we will do good,” said Amjyot. “We are hopeful of reaching at least the semis and after that whichever team sets up its plays better will win.”
“We got 6th place in the first tour (Utsunomiya) and 3rd place in China (second tour). Going into Abu Dhabi we are going to rely on our experience, talent and athleticism to do even better. Hopefully we play our best basketball and make Indians even more proud,” said guard Inderbir, the team’s floor leader. “Offensively we are talented enough to score points, the question is going to be if we can be physical enough and not make many mistakes on defence. That will be key.”
“I never thought I’d get the opportunity to train in India. I got a day to go back to Amritsar and visit my grandparents. It’s good to come back after 10 years and see how different things are now. It’s been a really good experience,” said Bikramjit.
About the 2016 FIBA 3x3 World Tour
Abu Dhabi Finals
There will be 12 teams competing in the World Tour Finals, divided into 4 Pools of three teams each:
Abu Dhabi Finals
There will be 12 teams competing in the World Tour Finals, divided into 4 Pools of three teams each:
Pool A: Novi Sad Al Wahda (UAE); Belgrade (Serbia); St Petersburg (Russia)
Pool B: Ljubljana (Slovenia); Sao Paulo DC (Brazil); Chicago (USA)
Pool C: Piran (Slovenia); Gdansk (Poland); Hamamatsu (Japan)
Pool D: Saskatoon (Canada); Kranj (Slovenia); Caguas (Puerto Rico)
The teams within each pool will play against each other in a round-robin first round. The top two placed teams from each pool advance to a standard knock-out round which starts at the quarter-finals stage. The winners are crowned FIBA 3x3 World Tour champions and earn a ticket to the FIBA 3x3 All Stars.
The competition will also feature dunk and shootout contests.
For more details, visit: www.fiba.com/3x3worldtour/2016/abu-dhabi
How to Watch
For those not attending the games at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex in Zayed Sports City (free entrance) – the games will be available from 17.00 local time (GMT+4) on Thursday 27 October live on FIBA 3x3's official YouTube channel and Facebook Live. The top-two placed teams from each pool advance to a standard knock-out round which starts at the quarter-finals stage, from 17.00 local time on Friday 28.
For those not attending the games at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex in Zayed Sports City (free entrance) – the games will be available from 17.00 local time (GMT+4) on Thursday 27 October live on FIBA 3x3's official YouTube channel and Facebook Live. The top-two placed teams from each pool advance to a standard knock-out round which starts at the quarter-finals stage, from 17.00 local time on Friday 28.
Qualification Rounds
The FIBA 3x3 World Tour Abu Dhabi Final features the winner of the 7 stops, (Mexico DF, Utsunomiya, Prague, Lausanne, Debrecen, Beijing and Rio de Janeiro) plus the 5 best teams in the World Tour standings at the end of the season (between 5 and 11 depending if a team has won more than one Masters).
The FIBA 3x3 World Tour Abu Dhabi Final features the winner of the 7 stops, (Mexico DF, Utsunomiya, Prague, Lausanne, Debrecen, Beijing and Rio de Janeiro) plus the 5 best teams in the World Tour standings at the end of the season (between 5 and 11 depending if a team has won more than one Masters).
The Amjyot starring Team Hamamtsu qualified via the latter route, having finished 6th in the first Utsunomiya leg (30-31 July) followed by a 3rd place finish at the Beijing leg (16-17 September). This gave them an overall world ranking of 11 (as of 17.10.2016 at the time of the draw) to make the cut in the 12-team field at the World Tour Finals.
About FIBA’s 3x3 Basketball Programme
As sourced verbatim from www.fiba.com/3x3/faq
As sourced verbatim from www.fiba.com/3x3/faq
3x3 basketball is already today the number one urban team sport in the world. (*According to an IOC-commissioned study.)
In line with FIBA's vision to make basketball the most popular sports community in the world, FIBA is embracing 3x3 with the aim of further promoting, uniting and developing the game of basketball. FIBA believes that 3x3 presents an excellent opportunity to attract new people to basketball and to raise awareness that everyone can play basketball, anywhere in the world. Embracing an additional stand-alone discipline offers the opportunity to extend the reach of participating or hosting countries in international competitions.
FIBA’s vision is to establish a pro FIBA 3x3 World Tour that allows 3x3 stars to make a living out of 3x3. Create the largest sports community in the world by having all 3x3 events worldwide included on 3x3planet.com.
The goal is to eventually make 3x3 Basketball an Olympic sport.
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